Previous Posts

Categories

Tag: glow in the dark laces

A while ago when I was sign-up-to-all-the-races mad I signed up to a bunch of races. So excited was I about signing up to races until I had no money left I didn’t check my dates very well. I didn’t double book myself, although it was a close call. I did book myself two races in one week though: a midweek race Run in the Dark and the Tough 10k on Saturday.

In the day of Run in the Dark I was feeling very all over the place. I felt frustrated and threw myself in bed in a bid to reset myself. When my alarm went off I didn’t want to go. I lay there, my body still and my mind ticking over a million miles per hour. Despite the stillness in my muscles I was really throwing myself around in a distracted debate about going. This is nothing new to me. The final push was that my partner in crime and number one supporter was coming to watch me and she’d already left and I couldn’t let my number one cheer leader turn up and not turn up myself. That wasn’t sitting well with me and *snap* I got up and dressed despite my lagging mojo.

We arrived in good time for me to fath about with my safety pins and drinks and generally – because fathing about is a prerequisite for any race day. I went up to the start line, which I’m never particularly close to because I’m not a super speedy Susan and waited for the klaxon to ring. Initially I got very excited. I raced past loads of people and got a bit giddy in my tummy about being amongst the faster flow of people and how that felt. It was like I was a part of a heard of gazelle – albeit less elegant. My calves started to cramp at roughly 1 Km in because I’d been relatively dehydrated for days. Eventually I subsided into a plodding pace – I lost my excitement of being a part of the gazelle pack as everyone I over took in my initial excitement began to overtake me.

Alas, when I got into my stride I became one with my real running pack : the backpackers. I enjoyed the excitement of being a gazelle but I really belong with the backpackers and I like that. You feel like you’re trying really hard, you’re all trying really hard and these guys are much friendlier whilst they’re running because they’re not the hunted trying to become the hunter, by that I mean gazelles trying to be cheetahs. I am a pug among the labradors and there’s nothing wrong with that – at least pugs are cute.

After a while I settled into the run and get used to the feeling of moving again- which was a really great bonus for me because I’ve been slightly less active over the last few weeks thanks my beautiful mind. I felt like I could have run 10k but decided to save it for Saturday, especially as at the start Of the 5k I thought I could sprint it with the gazelles and well, no I couldn’t. Maybe in a few years, who knows but not today.

I finished in 36:38 which I’m quite pleased with considering I decided to plod. I’m also pleased with my bright yellow tech top and this will be definitely be getting a lot of use over the colder and darker months. I also learned from my photo that I have jazzy laces that glow in the dark. This also made me very happy.